Basic aluminum halides (also referred to as aluminum halohydrates) have long been known to possess antiperspirant activity. These antiperspirant compositions are available in the form of polymeric compositions having the empirical formula: EQU Al.sub.2 (OH).sub.6-y X.sub.y
wherein X is chlorine, bromine or iodine and y has a numerical value from about 0.7 to about 3. However, it is only in recent studies, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,456 (the '456 patent), that it has been shown by size exclusion chromatography that basic aluminum halides are composed of individual polymer bands which pertain to different molecular weight groups of the compound. In these studies of basic aluminum halides obtained by conventional methods of preparation it was shown that it can further be broken down from high molecular weight polymers into larger amounts of lower molecular weight polymers by diluting concentrated aqueous solutions thereof to lower aqueous concentrations and treating with heat and or aging at room temperature to produce more effective antiperspirants as shown in sweat reduction panel studies.
The '456 patent describes processes for the preparation of improved antiperspirant compositions of aluminum halohydrates, which involve heating a 2.5 to 8.5% by weight, based on aluminum, of an aqueous solution of an aluminum halohydrate of the formula: EQU Al.sub.2 (OH).sub.6-y X.sub.y
where X and y are as defined above, at a temperature of 50.degree. to 140.degree. C. for a period of time to impart to the aluminum product certain desired properties in respect of size exclusion chromatogram test bands. The products thus obtained from these processes have good antiperspirant activity, but the processes do not provide compositions containing larger amounts of the lower molecular weight polymers with a narrow polydispersity which are believed to possess greater antiperspirant activity.
In addition to the '456 patent, processes for the preparation of antiperspirant basic aluminum halides are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,507,896; 3,891,745; 3,904,741; 4,038,373 and 4,053,570. However, none of these patents disclose polymeric compositions possessing the desired amounts of the lower molecular weight polymers as measured by the size exclusion chromatogram test band.